This is the first submission of an application for this novel internet business method. There are no other applications, provisional or non provisional.
There are no federally sponsored or funded research or development projects or undertakings in any way associated with the instant invention.
1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to that field of invention consisting of internet publication of books, magazines and periodicals. Specifically, the instant invention is an internet business method for encouraging the browsing of written materials viewable on the internet while at the same time discouraging the unauthorized printing of those written materials.
2. Background Information
This invention relates to the industry commonly known as xe2x80x9cinternet publishingxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ce-publishingxe2x80x9d. As is well known, data storage and processing machines (computers) are currently able to communicate with one another, over a distance, via connections commonly referred to as the xe2x80x9cinternetxe2x80x9d. Though somewhat confusing, the term xe2x80x9cinternetxe2x80x9d is frequently applied to describe both the physical structure over which the data is carried, as well as a general term applied to the sum total of the data available to computers so connected. While it is unknown precisely how many such computers communicate with one another in such a fashion on a daily basis, it is well known that the number is quite large, and expected to continue growing.
A development which has occurred due to the ability of computers to communicate (or share information and data) in this fashion is the establishment of roles for the respective computers providing the data (so-called xe2x80x9cserversxe2x80x9d) and those requesting the data (so-called xe2x80x9cclientsxe2x80x9d). At present, not only have these clients and servers been constructed to share information between one another, but they have spawned what is now referred to as xe2x80x9ce-commercexe2x80x9d.
E-commerce may be best understood in general terms as the buying and selling of goods and services remotely, from computer user to computer user, via the internet. E-commerce involves many of the same processes which are utilized when entering into traditional purchase and sales transactions. However, rather than viewing the goods at a traditional business outlet such as a store (so-called xe2x80x9cbrick and mortarxe2x80x9d retailers), the potential purchaser searches the internet utilizing a so-called xe2x80x9csearch enginexe2x80x9d and/or xe2x80x9cbrowserxe2x80x9d and locates so-called xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d (individual data collections which function as parts of the whole, the whole often being referred to as either the xe2x80x9cworld wide webxe2x80x9d or internet) and views the goods and/or descriptions in order to determine whether or not to purchase same.
A frequent scenario in e-commerce is for a client to request information/data from a server, for example, a catalog. The requester of the data may then view the catalog at his or her computer. Sometimes a connection is maintained between the server which provides the data, and the client requesting the data. In other cases, the catalog is simply transferred, in the form of data, directly to the client. Furthermore, the catalog (data) may incorporate certain xe2x80x9cfieldsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cpull down menusxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cradio buttonsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9clinksxe2x80x9d or other similar data entry/data selection areas for purposes of communicating to the server a request by the client to initiate a purchase. The server then processes this request, secures information regarding payment (again, utilizing some form of data entry area) and completes the transaction.
Unlike the more traditional forms of commerce where one may visit a brick and mortar retailer""s store and view, closely inspect, and even hold the goods, e-commerce has faced the serious limitation of being unable to provide anything more than a picture, whether still or moving, and perhaps a sound recording.
These particular limitations have been felt perhaps most seriously among the purveyors of written materials; the internet publishers and retailers of printed matter. Internet publishing and online sales of written material is a niche within e-commerce in which it is well recognized that book buyers, in particular, are at an acute loss when they are unable to hold a book and thumb through the pages (commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cbook browsingxe2x80x9d) prior to making a purchase decision.
So deep seated is this need to inspect the contents of a book prior to purchase that some major xe2x80x9cbrick and mortarxe2x80x9d retailers have gone to the trouble and expense of making comfortable seating (plush chairs and couches) and refreshments available to customers precisely to encourage book browsing on the premises.
Worse still has been the plight of the internet publishers, especially those who xe2x80x9cpublish on demandxe2x80x9d (POD). In essence, the internet publication on demand industry generally does not produce actual physical books. Instead, it provides servers from which books may be downloaded (copied) into clients. Unlike the traditional brick and mortar book seller who provides actual physical access to the book, or the online book seller who provides a catalog of book titles and perhaps a small picture of the cover of the book, the POD industry on the internet typically has little or nothing to show a prospective purchaser. At best, a picture of the cover or even an excerpt from the book may be offered. This limitation is a serious detriment to the POD publisher. But it may be even more daunting a problem to the new or up and coming author who has little chance of securing publication through the larger publishing industry (or xe2x80x9cpublishing housesxe2x80x9d). For the new author, POD holds the promise of reaching millions of computer users with the most minimal capital outlay on the author""s or publisher""s part. But in order to fulfill that promise, POD publishers will first have to find a way to compete with the ability of brick and mortar bookstores to offer book browsing prior to making a book purchase.
Efforts to date to provide the sort of xe2x80x9cbook browsing experiencexe2x80x9d available at traditional brick and mortar outlets have yielded no positive results. Online book sellers, and especially POD publishers have utilized a variety of computer programs to make written materials available for viewing online. Unfortunately, each computer program has a serious limitation. If the material is placed on the internet to browse (analogous to xe2x80x9cbook browsingxe2x80x9d), it is just as easily copied without any payment being made by the copyist to the publisher, merchant, or copyright owner. Examples of prior art methods for making written materials available for viewing online include scanning the written material into a photograph format (so-called .gif, .jpg and .art, to name a few) and embedding the photographic copy of the material on a web page (utilizing web page generation language such as so-called HTML code and JAVA script, to name a few) as well as scanning or rewriting the printed material into other popular formats such as .pdf, produced by ADOBE, in a program known as ACROBAT. Irrespective of the format in which the written material is made available online, unauthorized copying of the entire work (thus depriving the owner/licensee of due payment) has been unavoidable in the prior art if the written material is made available for browsing.
In short, e-commerce in the POD/Online book seller industry has been both stunted and handicapped due to a serious inherent limitation in the arts. The stumbling block to date may be most easily described as the apparently unsolvable problem of how to provide access to the contents of a publication over the internet (make the written material browsable), while at the same time being able to discourage, if not completely prevent, the unauthorized copying and/or printing of that material. The POD/Online book seller industry since its inception has wrestled with this problem, and until the advent of the instant invention, had no means for overcoming it.
The instant invention is a method for permitting the browsing of written material made available over the internet while discouraging the unauthorized printing of the written material being browsed, yet permitting authorized printing of same.
A first object of the instant invention is to provide those who advertise and sell written material over the internet with a method which will permit potential buyers of that printed material to browse the work embodied in the written material prior to their purchase, yet so seriously discourage the printing of that material prior to purchase that the typical potential purchaser instead will make the purchase rather than attempt to copy and print the material.
This first object is accomplished by a method which permits viewing of the written material, but causes the printing of that material to consume so much printer ink, toner, etc., so as to make printing the complete work embodied in the written material more costly and inconvenient than purchasing the written material from the seller, thus discouraging unauthorized printing of the written material.
A second object of the instant invention is to provide those who advertise and sell written material over the internet with a method which will permit potential buyers of that printed material to browse the work embodied in the written material prior to their purchase, yet render unauthorized printing of that material so difficult and/or costly as to dissuade the large majority of viewers from printing the material without paying for it.
This second object is accomplished by a method which permits viewing of the written material, but, upon attempting to print the material, having that written material include a code which instructs the printing device of the copyist to print the written material using a darkened or colored background, the darkened or colored background causing the printing of that material to consume so much printer ink, toner, etc. so as to make printing the complete work embodied in the written material more costly and inconvenient than purchasing the written material from the seller.
A third object of the instant invention is to provide those who advertise and sell written material over the internet with a method which will permit potential buyers of that printed material to browse the work embodied in the written material prior to its purchase, yet render unauthorized printing of that material impossible.
This third object is accomplished by a method which permits viewing of the written material but, upon attempting to print the material, either not offering a print option at all, or else having that written material include code which instructs the printing device of the copyist to refuse the print order. Yet, an authorized print request of the printed material will be complied with, and the material will print out.